Sarah & Geraldby Christopher G McPherson
ebook
Published September 4th 2012
Premise:
In the years after the great war, life was golden and happy for those who had survived it. An entire generation of young men died so others could sit on a beach and splash in the water and have sandwiches on the sand. It was a golden time for American expatriates -- like Sarah and Gerald -- to be in Paris. Everything had worked out so well for them: they had money, they had friends, they had three golden children and they had each other. And everyone was so young. Gerald was a painter and his bold new painting would shock the French art world; but the consequences of his artistic success would soon bring tragedy to Sarah and their family. Despite doing everything right, things would soon start going very wrong.
Please welcome Christopher to Colorimetry for a visit!! This is one of those surprise visits that just gets more and more interesting as I post. Had I researched the author, I would have asked some more questions... like why he researched the history of plastics. Seriously... why? And who collects pictures of pets with their heads in bags?! But no... I asked much saner questions about his very interesting book. Lol. So... we'll just have to start up a discussion with the interview below. Oh, do please join in this discussion. Who... seriously WHO has a picture of their pet with its head in a bag? You MUST share!!
So... why Sarah and Gerald? What's the story behind the
story?
I've
always been fascinated by America between the wars -- roughly 1918 (the end of
World War One) to 1945 (end of World War Two). Those years saw some of the most
important and long-lasting influences in arts, politics and society. It can be
argued that they were the most fertile and influential years in the whole of
the 20th century.
Because of my interest in that
period, I read a lot of biographies about people who were active then -- many
of whom found themselves in Paris during the 1920s. I was intrigued by the fact
that so many of these famous people knew so many other famous people before any of them were famous. Eventually, I
decided to write a novel about people like that who were young struggling
artists who knew and helped each other. My novel is very loosely based on some
real people who travelled in those circles, but it's a work of fiction.
Do you have a favorite scene?
Wow, that's really hard. I have a
lot of favorite scenes, but one that really stands out takes place during a
party on a barge parked along the Seine. Here, we first find out about a
different kind of romance that's been going on behind the scenes that will
greatly affect the outcome of the story. I think I really captured the simple
love between two people who know they can never really be together. It's something
of a sad scene, but I hope my readers will agree it really captures a moment
and defines the characters involved.
Share something personal!! What's your favorite
part about family life?
This
one's easy: My spouse, Matt, is a professional graphic designer. He's done the
covers for my three novels and my collection of short stories that came out
earlier this year. Because of his work on my books, he's gotten a lot of
commissions to do other ebook covers. It's so neat to be able to work with him
on my covers and discuss ideas over lunch and figure out what works. It's fun
having an artist in the family!
Thank
you, Laura, for doing an interview with me. I really enjoyed it!
Thanks for comin' by!! Please feel free to comment!! :-)
About the Author:
Christopher Geoffrey McPherson - I was one of those kids always noodling with words, writing nonsense stories and animal adventures. I got a serious case of the word flu when I was asked to write an article for my high school newspaper. It's a disease from which I have yet to recover. In the intervening years, my work has appeared in daily newspapers, monthly magazines, extensively on radio and the occasional dalliance with television. I have written advertising copy and radio commercials -- and I continue to write, write, write.
Also featuring my byline are "Forever - and other stories" -- a collection of short stories, "The Life Line" -- the novel of the big one that levels San Francisco, "News on the Home Front" -- a novel of two friends during World War Two, and "Mama Cat" -- a book for children. Also, several short plays, a few radio plays and a boat load of radio documentaries. I am currently working on a science fiction novel about a world in which life is absolutely perfect.
More books by Christopher:
Ok... so one cat with his head in a chip bag is kinda funny, right? Christopher keeps an entire collection of pix like this!! Lol. If you have one... please do send us a link! Attach or email... and let me know, 'cause I'm crackin' up over this.And I want to know WHY PLASTICS?!
This website loaded with the history of plastic is fascinating. I seriously had no idea. It looks downright poisonous, for one, and yet... Christopher collects cool vintage plastic stuff. CHECK IT OUT!!
And so, because you asked, here are answers to your two additional questions:
Plastics:
As you know, I'm a journalist. Journalists like ferretting out stories. In the course of looking for plastic dinnerware by a designer that Matt was collecting (Russel Wright), I chanced upon the "Lifetime Ware" line and began to ask the following questions: Who designed this? Who is Jon Hedu? Why has nothing been written about such a grand design and designer? One question led to another and the website is the result. It started 14 years ago and now I am part of a group of researchers compiling an encyclopaedia on mid-century plastics.
Pets with bags on their heads:
The photo you included in the blog is of my cat Eames who died in 2006. (He is the subject of my book for children "Mama Cat.") One day I was filling his bowl with food, and he hopped on the desk and started eating out of the bag. I grabbed my camera and a new blog site was born. I sent email to people and they sent pix of their pets from all around the world. I'm really glad you put out a call for more pics from your followers because I'm always adding new ones. :-)
Additionally, the two illustrations you included are collages done by Matt as well. The first one is of me that he did about 15 years ago (when I was still cute). The second one is Eames. The string in the collage is Eames' actual favorite piece of string. He was such a wonderful cat. (sniff)
Thank you!! It's amazing how many interesting tidbits are behind a book!! I had no idea there was an encyclopedia of plastics in the works!!
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